The Project: Setting Up

My brilliant writing project is starting to get underway. I’m attempting to get my ducks in a row. I was going to put a row of ducks in the pic up there, but realized we are all different with some things in common…  and I liked that picture. I am thrilled to have the people I wanted agreeing to participate . They are very creative folks. I know this because they are nearly all part of my family. Yup, no bias here!

I was sitting at dinner with my aunt a few weeks ago. My Aunt Sandy is much like a sister to me, as she is only four years my senior. We lived together off and on growing up. We fought with each other, laughed, and cried.  Today we share stories that make us laugh so hard we cry…

Anyway, at dinner I shared with her about mom wanting me to write and how I was humoring her. Then it struck me! Sandy has always wanted to write. My youngest son, Da (pronounced Day, and no his name is NOT a tribute to Felicia Day,) already writes and has numerous characters developed (just found out he has about 17 nearly fully developed characters.) My middle son, Hagardly, writes music and comics; I knew he would be a tremendous creative talent. I was so excited my hands started their flailing in Applebee’s.

My aunt just stared at me, then started to smile. I told her about the Star Wars fiction writing group that I am part of. I explained how we all collaborate to make a story happen. I excitedly told her our litte group of creatives needed to do the same thing! We needed to write a book collaboratively! She listened, but there was something in her eyes. She asked some questions, but I knew she was intrigued by the idea.

Our current stage of the project is being set. I created a Google group for our coordination efforts. I invited everyone. Now it’s time to move forward into character development. *rubs hands together in excited anticipation* 

Everyone can be a part a part of the project. I am going to create a blog chronicling our efforts. Each of the participants will be posting about their own experiences and processes, how well it’s going, what our thoughts are…

Only problem is.. We still need a name for it! Twitter Contest For The Win! I’m going to offer a $15 gift certificate to Amazon.com for the winner of the naming contest. I hope that will entice people to help me name our blog.

Exciting times ahead! I hope you will all join us in our journey, it won’t always be smooth, but I’m thinking it will almost be an internet writing version of reality TV! (eewww, did I really just say that?)

Brand New Day…

There is a song in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog called “Brand New Day”. I love that song. If you listen to the words, the hero… ummm, villain…; okay Dr Horrible, makes his commitment to the Dark Side ((to borrow a Star Wars term)) and begins singing the song with great resolve. When Billy ((Dr. Horrible’s version of Clark Kent)) gets to the chorus he sings: It’s a brand new day and the sun is high All the birds are singing that you’re gonna die How I hesitated now I wonder why It’s a brand new day   I kinda leave out the gonna die part though. I’ll often be found singing it often at the beginning of many of my days and starting my good morning tweets with the phrase, “It’s a Brand New Day!” Today is a brand new day for me. I had a huge disappointment yesterday, but today I chose to keep on track with my life. I refused to let depression set in. It’s strange, a few short months ago I could feel the depression sitting there, waiting for me to embrace it, but it isn’t there this time. I cried a bit yesterday, howeverI think the crying was cathartic; cleansing; a time of mourning. But today is… A Brand New Day! I’m in a great mood; I have a smile on my face. I’m accomplishing things. Yes it is… A BRAND NEW DAY!!!! ((List of victories are on Something Different))

LISTS!!!

I went back to college at 40; the class I dreaded the most was English Composition. I discovered I am a very good writer. At one point, my teacher said I was so good at writing because I wrote about what I knew. I do write on things I’m passionate about, or tend to have a strong opinion.

I am working to be a better writer and I want to share what I write with others. My current project is working with problogger.net on their 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. You all get to … ummm, reap the benefits… or suffer the torture… you choose, of what I experiment with for the next 30 days. Yesterday was day one, I haven’t shared that with you yet!

We are being challenged to write a list. I love lists! I try to put most of my work emails and reports and others things into lists so people can read the majority of the content easily. To this end, I’m going to create a list of the things I’m currently passionate about! *wicked grins* although you could just look at my blog cloud to see the same thing.

Ready? Set? GO!

·         MMO’s – Massive Multiplayer Online game. Often it’s MMORPG, with the RPG meaning roleplaying game. I love these games. Why? Not so much for the game, but for the Multiplayer part. I LOVE PEOPLE! I’m a social person. I’ve always enjoyed playing games on computer, but add in the social aspect and I’m totally hooked. Not addictively anymore, but it’s so amazing to see people come together to achieve common goals. I build teams and the principles for real life team building absolutely applies here in MMO’s.

o   Star Wars Galaxies (past favorite)

o   Star Trek Online (looking to a near future)

o   World of Warcraft (current)

·         Family – I’m 50 now. I am not oriented on raising my boys any longer, but I am interested in their lives and watching them mature, grow, and supporting them (hopefully not financially) to become the amazing young men I know they can be.

o   Hagardly (writes music and is starting a comic series based on MMOs)

o   Da (pronounced Day. He’s a fiction writer who is incredibly intrigued with the psychology of relationships)

o   Mike (In the Army, and has a true artist’s heart. He plays instruments by ear and wants desperately to be an actor)

o   Mom (terrifically smart woman)

o   Extended (so many, and I love them all, even when they make me crazy)

·         Role Playing – This is the area that I get to still make-believe in. I get to be someone I’d not, but it’s not crazy, it’s accepted and enjoyed by me and others. Star Wars is usually my chosen universe for RP, but I’ve dabbled in Star Trek and it has a tremendous appeal for me.

·         Writing – I’m exploring my new found love of writing. I’ve written short fiction stories that have won an award. I’ve writing dozens of boring technical manuals, but now… I want to explore reaching out to others.

o   Twitter (fast, furious, fun).

o   Blogging (therapeutic)

·         Something Different – The clickable tab at the top of the page. This is my current passion right now.

·         Internet and/or Celebrities – I’ve always been a little fascinated with the entertainment world, from the days of my youth.

o   Felicia Day – She is an incredible young woman. I enjoy following her career because she’s utilized the current technology to make her dreams happen. She’s worked hard and is probably the biggest celebrity on the Internet and will be in other media soon as well if things keep going as they are. She’s a writer, actress, singer, director. Those are things I always wanted to do, and so I feel a certain kinship with her. I’m twice her age, but she’s a role model. She is a gamer girl who is loved and adored by so many people.

I’ve spent time explaining my fascination for her here, because many of the people my age have been asking why I’m so intrigued. This is why: She’s an Awesome Geek Chic!

o   Dr Horrible’s Sing-along Blog – Jos Whedon – what an amazing talent. Firefly, Dollhouse. My boys and I all have the DVD’s for Dr. Horrible. If you haven’t seen it, just stop what you are doing, and go watch it now! It’s on the Internet. DO IT! DO IT NOW!

 

… and that concludes today’s list of Zannniee’s Interests!

 

Dreaming at 50…

 

Many years ago, when I was still in high school, I thought about writing. I wasn’t sure what I would write about and I didn’t have a clue how to write fiction even though I loved reading it.

 Due to my interest in role playing in the SW universe, I started reading some of the published fiction. I didn’t want to be inaccurate in the portrayal of my characters. Timothy Zahn has great stuff and my all time favorite author is Aaron Allston. Allston’s stuff can make me laugh out loud at the antics of Wes Jansen and then bring me to tears in the very next chapter. He’s able to evoke my emotions and I read all his books.

A good friend of mine, Halyn, is a fantastic writer. I would venture to say he’s on par with Allston, if not better. People hang on his writings, begging for more. He’s written a lot of fan fiction for the Star Wars universe, including a story about one of my characters.

Halyn has won contests and even edited some of my attempts at writing, one of which also won a contest. He’s just a great, extremely talented young man.

He also let me see some of his world and real life writing processes. I’m a decent proofreader and have been fortunate enough to proof a few of his offerings. I’m going to try to imitate his methods and maybe produce a work of fiction.

Halyn gave me a hope that maybe someday I could write something more. Something people would want to read.

Shadowcall is another dear friend of mine. He is a photojournalist with an incredible, natural talent. He’s encouraging me in my blogging attempts, giving me constructive criticism and feedback. We started our blogs at about the same time and he discovered Twitter and shared it with me. Both arenas are changing my world and perspective on what I can accomplish.

50 isn’t the end, it’s the beginning of seeing my dreams come true…

I miss…

…roleplaying.

 

I suppose it goes back to being a kid and playing pretend. I also really really really wanted to be an actress when I was growing up. I dreamed about being Batgirl’s sidekick. I’d even dream about it at night when I was 5. *grins* No, I’m not giving away my age here, I did that two posts ago.

I used to role play for hours and hours in Star Wars Galaxies. I was a beautiful blue Twi’lek and very wrapped up in my Cantina and being a spy. Together with my friends we’d weave wonderful stories.

Then it was simming with another group of friends, again in the Star Wars universe. This time a Force sensitive green Twi’lek. Aedaria was amazing and fresh and learning so much from her teachers. My friends knew so much about the Star Wars universe and I knew almost nothing. We would gallivant about the galaxy saving people from the bad guys. The stories were fabulous.

I like the world of pretend and make-believe. I love reading fiction, placing myself into the world to see it for myself.

Roleplaying let me be part of the fiction, writing the story as we go along.

*sigh* I miss it.

Choices…

I'm in good company!

I’m 50!

I know that isn’t earth shattering to any of you. Still, I’m 50. I went into a funk about it months before the actual date. I did NOT want to be 50. Guess what? I didn’t have a choice.

Actually, I have many choices. I can choose what to do with the rest of my life. I decided the main choice is this:

“Start my life now, or die.”

I’m starting my life now! I feel a new motivation. A new energy. A new excitement.

I started a diet almost two weeks ago. However, for the FIRST time, it’s more of a lifestyle change than a diet. The real test came today. I actually chose to pass up Rice Krispie treats. I LOVE those, but today it wasn’t worth it.

So, now it’s time to decide who I am and what motivates me. I am not the fat woman whom people enjoy talking to and laughing with. I’m the woman who is going to be thinner and healthier, whom people enjoy talking to and laughing with.

I’m still a gamer mom. I still enjoy Dr Horrible. I’m still a HUGE Felicia Day fan.

I Tweet, I blog, I play WoW. I’m a Star Trek fan, even more than Star Wars. I roleplay, I write fiction.

I’m a geek. I enjoy the challenges of SharePoint. I like troubleshooting and giving the solutions to someone else to manage.

I love to read, I like puzzles and solving mysteries.

I am the mother to 3 amazing boys.

I think there is more to me than even these things. My life is my own. I have choices.

I’m 50!

 

((I’m pretty sure I need a 50th Anniversary Barbie now…))

Three letters can make a grown woman cower in fear…

PVP!!!!

Those three little letters usually make me groan and cringe in fear. Being placed into a PvP situation would cause my blood pressure to soar to unreasonable levels. My hands would shake. I’d be very irritable. One time, my desk suffered a nearly complete demise from my utter frustration with the situation!

PVP? “What is it?,” many of you would ask? It stands for Player versus Player in computer gaming terms. It’s you going up head to head against at least one other player. Sometimes it could be one-on-one; sometimes teams against teams.

I HATED it.

I avoided it at all costs!

Unless I was sitting in the gunner’s seat in an ARC-170, or the turret of a YT-1300 (think Star Wars Millenium Falcon.)

 

 

Love the ARC-170 the best!

I LOVED gunning. I was arguably one of the very best in all of the Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) game. Just ask anyone from the Space Community about Sandarie. You are first likely to be told she was a beautiful blue Twi’lek and next a deadly gunner they never wanted to go up against.

   Recently, WoW incorporated an achievement system with titles and rewards for completing various tasks. Guess what!?! Several of the achievements had a PvP component. GROSS! But a few people took pity on me and a few others with sentiments similar to mine and took us into the 40 against 40 zones a few times to let us get what we needed for the achievements.

 Let’s transition to WoW. The World of Warcraft’s PvP environment didn’t have starships with turrets. It was you against other players. BLECH!!!!

 

That’s it, I was DONE! No more PvP! YAY!!!

Fast Forward to WoW’s new expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. This brought Wintersgrasp and Strand of the Ancients.

Oh My GOSH!!!!

I’ve never experienced PvP with so many options. Not since playing SWG. I could defend the keep in a turret! I could grab up a rocket launcher! I could do massive magie goodness of damage from a distance!!!

I think that’s the key for me. I wasn’t up close and personal! I was away from the immediate action, I have better perspective.

But it’s more than that! It’s immersive in the story. I was defending something, it was measurable and had lasting effects. We got to keep control of the Keep or lose control of the keep and that directly effected game play in other areas.

It. Just. Feels. Real.

I go every chance I get to go with a group of friends. I know someone else who feels as I do about PvP and now he’s created a Hunter just for Wintersgrasp PvPing. I love it…

… now if only I could get my desk’s keyboard tray attached back on my desk again…

 

I wanna write…

I’m in a fairly decent mood so far today. I’ve gotten quite a number of things accomplished at work, so that’s a good thing, right?

I have several avenues for writing these days.

• a fiction writing group
• a new role playing group
• a fiction writing academy I’ve been attempting to finish
• several manuals that need to be written or updated at work
• The story of a young man whose trials and tribulations would make for a fantastic story/movie
• and of course this blog.

Currently, this blog is winning! However, I’ll write more for the fiction writing group in a few hours.

I consider the writing group to be part of an MMO, by the way. The club, Rebel Squadrons, has hundreds of members who can choose how they want to participate in the fictional Star Wars universe. Either by playing a game, writing, simming, chatting, or various other activities. It might not have thousands of members who participate daily, but even in those gigantic MMO’s not everyone interacts with every single other player. I’m going to explore that soon, maybe next.

Suffice it to say, I’m writing about Sarriah later.

Conflicted… Ummm, Make that: “Clutter Update!”

I have so many things I want to talk about! I love this blog site, though. WordPress allows me to start all my topics as drafts, so I can keep my thoughts and not lose them. Alright, some of you know I’ll lose my throughts anyway, but this will at least help me lose less of them?

I wanted to continue the discussion on MMO’s and games, but Monday my son took me to see the new Star Wars movie. Many neat things occured because of it, so I want to share that!

Then…

Shadowcall and I discussed some of those items, but when he first arrived in my office he made a comment about my moving the cluttered piles of papers and magazines further behind my desk so people wouldn’t see them when they first entered my office!

I grinned up at him, he’s like 7′10″ (okay, more like 6′6″ or more), and said, “I’ll have you know those are sorted piles! Industry magazines first, training brochures, paper newsletters, and finally vendor catalogs!” I said all this, but he and I both knew that I was hiding those piles so they wouldn’t be seen by people when they first entered my office!

Okay, decisions, decisions. Do I talk about the organizational ideas I’ve gotten lately, or should I return to my gaming insights? What do you think? Time to share. You all know that I am a people person. I would love my blog to include people and their ideas and thoughts. Don’t let me down!